Is the world becoming more violent?

[Michael Motley]

Or are we just more aware because of modern technology? It seems like everyday on the news someone is killing someone, people are getting beaten up, completely heinous crimes. And not just in the u.s., but everywhere. Is it just the current global climate? desensitization to violence or has the world always been this jacked up, but we find out about it more now due to internet and 50 channels of 24 hour global news?

[Alexa Smith]

According to criminiologists, sociologists, statisticians and others who study this stuff for a living, most countries are becoming less violent; it's public awareness and official recording of it that's increasing.

I understand that attacks on children, in particular, have been steadily declining (a little) throughout the Western world since the 1920's, nearly 100 years now, while many people believe they've actually been increasing because they hear a lot more about them and are quick to interpret things as being connected with "modern life" when they're actually not, at all.

[Scot Standke]

Without a doubt:

Angry Couple Accused of Assaulting McDonald's Workers Over Wrong-Size Fries

Scot

[Lawrh]

I agree with Alexa. It's perception caused by the media. Scot's post is a
perfect illustration. There will always be a certain number of nutjobs, but until
the last 10 years you seldom ever heard about them.

[madison_avenue]

Originally Posted by Scot Standke

Without a doubt:

Angry Couple Accused of Assaulting McDonald's Workers Over Wrong-Size Fries

Scot

I want breakfast!

YouTube - Falling Down - I want breakfast

[Michael Motley]

I cant tell if its caused by the media or not. There are crimes happening that you've just never heard of before. Pregnant mothers leaving babies in dumpsters, fathers soliciting their own daughters on myspace for sex, and in florida it seems like every other day im hearing something about some pervert doing something to a kid. Its like just when you think that the people of this world can't get any more messed up, someone comes along and proves you wrong.

[Jason_V]

Actually, it's only because you live in the U.S. and watch strictly U.S. news.

Our media is the absolute WORST when it comes to this stuff. Our media loves to sensationalize everything. They want to scare everyone so bad that they don't even want to go out the door. They want you to be shut into your house glued to the television set cowering and in fear for your life.

I'm not saying there isn't any bad people out there because there are. I'm not saying that you should go wandering around in dodgy neighborhoods alone at night.

You know how our news is comprised of about 55 minutes of blood, gore, and terror and the last 5 is the human interest story? Most other countries it's 55 minutes of human interest stories and 5 minutes of blood, gore, and terror (Of course less when you add in commercials for drugs we probably don't really need and crap we don't really need to buy).

[Patrician]

There is certainly plenty of depravity to go around.

What I find strange is how people even get 'entertained' by violence. Channel surf sometime and there is a brawl on every channel. Guns, fist fights, lazers, bombs, then a whole variety of shows about murders in reality, in movies, in weekly series.

The thing is if you ever stop to really FEEL a real crime you see in the news or that is other than fantasy, it's spine chilling, repulsive and perverted, and I guess there is nothing we can do with those emotions except go into some kind of denial - unless we want to go nuts feeling paranoid or angry...

[Thomas]

This morning, 6 people were arrested in relation to murder that happened last night in my local town.

The last murder was in 1981... 28 years ago.

The last one before than was in the early 1960s.

While one murder is one too many, I reckon one every generation, or so, compares pretty well to all you violent savages...

[ana_lim]

Yes, "the world" or the right thing to say "the people of the world" is becoming violent. We are all aware that people tend to do violence against other people and against their own country or other country. These violence are so detrimental to all of us.

But still we have time to change these in our title ways. We can start changing it in our selves. Then in our family, community and then in a bigger society.

These may not that easy but in trying there will be a glory

[KenThompson]

Interesting points, here. Obviously the media, internet, and instant
communications of all varieties has a huge impact on perception of
violence levels and many other things.

Media is business and they sell their news. It used to make me crazy
with the news situation here in the US. There is so much concentration
on the negative and the evoking and maintaining of fear that I stopped
watching TV news many years ago. In fact, I stopped watching TV
altogether about 5 or 6 years ago.

I cannot support this with facts, but it just seems to me that the overall
level of violence in the world is certainly less as time continues on. Obviously,
hundreds or thousands of years ago there was a lot of conquering going on
that doesn't happen now. Then you figure the state of local behavior back
in those times, I imagine there was a lot more local violence happening, too.

[lklein]

I think it has become more violent in recent history.

If you look at our morals and values from the 50s til now, it doesn't take a genuis.

When high school kids are killing people for kicks and adults just don't care anymore...

All the trash on TV and online doesn't help. ...And it's a miracle to see someone use their turn signal these days. LOL

[Intrepreneur]

If it gets nuclear violent I'm outta here.

In fact we gotta team up in here and create the rocket that takes us all to another universe

[seasoned]

Well, I used to live in NW LA County, in the 60s. People seemed kind of nice, though kids DID bully me. Maybe I was isolated, but it seemed crime was low, etc... Eventually, the makup of the community changed, the average income dropped, and crime went up. I woke up one day to find all the light poles in the apartment bent down. It turned out that a guy was high on PCP, and did it.

I moved farther east, and eventually found that people were murdered within a block in all four directions of my home!

I moved to the midwest, and so far so good.

TODAY, they talk about bullying like it is some NEW phenomenon! UNREAL!

Steve

[Michael Oksa]

The media's motto is "if it bleeds, it leads". So, yes, they focus on violence. But it's not news to say, "nothing happened overnight".

That doesn't excuse the behavior, though.

Another thought: The media actually helps REDUCE violence overall by reporting it. Why do you think dictators are so quick to supress the media?

There has always been violence, and it may have been worse in the past than today.

Just read about any of the following...

Elizabeth Báthory - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jack the Ripper - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Vlad III the Impaler - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Human sacrifice in Aztec culture - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Christman Gniperdoliga - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Gilles de Rais - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

And that's just for starters.

All the best,
Michael

[Michael Motley]

Originally Posted by Paul McQuillan

Thanks for the links Michael.

People usually live in the moment and do not remember history beyond
yesterday.

Sure there are kids taking guns to school. But it is not a full blown
problem where 10s of thousands are dying in a matter of days.

I find it a bit strange people can't look beyond today's news and know
how violent we have been. We have ALWAYS been violent.

We need to also consider population proportion along with media
obsession (scratch that- OUR obsession with the darkness).

We are no more violent now. In Minnesota we decided to allow
conceal and carry. Guess how many killings have come from
that over the past few years? Very few

Go back to the wild west and see what the mortality rate was along
with average lifespan (life being decided by another).

Pull heads out of butts and stop feeding the machine

most of the 'wild west' is nothing more than over romanticized stories that have grown over the years. A person taking a life grows to that person taking 20 lives, 2 man shootouts grown to half the town firing at each other. people think that wyatt earp shot many a man down in gunfights, and in actuality he only killed 1 man in his lifetime

and there is no doubt that in history there were individuals that were violent, but now there seem to be more of those individuals. a despotic ruler with a violent streak isn't the same as the everyday citizen that snaps and molests then kills half the neighborhood, burys them under the garage and starts eating them at random.


And did you ever notice that caucasians in general seem to be a way more violent race than any other?

We whites are great at killing, its what we do best. Whites are generally responsible for all the inventions that primarily have a use of killing. We even take other inventions not meant for killing and adjust them so that they can take a life.

And we're crazy too. You dont really hear of minorities in the u.s. that are mass murderers, us whiteboys have that locked down.